Ericsson will benefit from Ciena's best-in-class optical technology leadership, including its WaveLogic coherent optical processors and global market presence. Combined with Ericsson's strong IP portfolio and Global Services organization, service providers will be able to deploy IPoWDM technology and to evolve their transport network into a SDN-enabled infrastructure. This will result in lower total cost of ownership and faster deployment of new services.

"This strategic global agreement brings together two companies uniquely positioned to drive the adoption of more open, programmable networks. The integration of our industry-leading packet-optical technologies into Ericsson's portfolio, combined with our global distribution agreement, allows us to address a wider market with a combined offering," said Gary Smith, President and CEO, Ciena. "As our industry moves toward a more open networking environment, collaboration within an ecosystem of specialists will be critical for innovation. Our SDN-focused joint development activities will enable us to deliver on network transformation strategies that dynamically support changing demands for network-level applications and services."

"The convergence between IP and Optical network layers in an Open SDN controlled architecture will enable more flexible and cost efficient networks for Service Providers" said Johan Wibergh, Executive Vice President and Ericsson's Head of Business Unit Networks." This agreement allows us to offer Ciena's industry-leading Packet-Optical products. This is a great complement to our portfolio of 4th Generation IP products and will enable more complete and competitive solutions to our customers."

The strategic agreement is effective immediately, and go-to-market activities and solution integration efforts are underway.

Ciena is the network specialist. We collaborate with customers worldwide to unlock the strategic potential of their networks and fundamentally change the way they perform and compete. Ciena leverages its deep expertise in packet and optical networking and distributed software automation to deliver solutions in alignment with OPn, its approach for building open next-generation networks. We enable a high-scale, programmable infrastructure that can be controlled and adapted by network-level applications, and provide open interfaces to coordinate computing, storage and network resources in a unified, virtualized environment. For updates on Ciena news, follow us on Twitter @Ciena or on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/company/ciena. Investors are encouraged to review the Investors section of our website at www.ciena.com/investors, where we routinely post press releases, SEC filings, recent news, financial results, and other announcements. From time to time we exclusively post material information to this website along with other disclosure channels that we use.

Ericsson is a world-leading provider of communications technology and services. We are enabling the Networked Society with efficient real-time solutions that allow us all to study, work and live our lives more freely, in sustainable societies around the world.

Our offering comprises services, software and infrastructure within Information and Communications Technology for telecom operators and other industries. Today 40 percent of the world's mobile traffic goes through Ericsson networks and we support customers' networks servicing more than 2.5 billion subscribers.

We are more than 110,000 people working with customers in more than 180 countries. Founded in 1876, Ericsson is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2013 the company's net sales were SEK 227.4 billion (USD 34.9 billion). Ericsson is listed on NASDAQ OMX, Stockholm and NASDAQ, New York stock exchanges.